Improvement in rubber soles for boots and shoes



Rubber-Soles for Boots and Shoes.

No. 142,16l, ParemedAugust-26,1873.

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DANIEL E. HAYWARD, OF 'MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RUBBER SOLES FOR BOOTSAND SHOES.

'Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 142,161, dated August 26, 1873; application filed April 8, 1872.

ture; and consists in vulcanizing the outerl portion of it previously to applying it to the boot or shoe sufficiently to prevent it from losing its form during the process of applying it to the `boot or shoe, and during the heating process, While the inner'portion of it-that is, that portion which comes against the upperis left unaffected by the heat, or sol nearly unaffected that it will solidly unite with the upper when the two arevulcanized together.

The second part of my invention relates to the method of manufacturing rubber boots and shoes; and consists in rst forming the soles in a mold of the required size,partially vulcanizin g them, as above indicated, and then vnlcanizing the twotogether by applying the unvulcanized portion ofthe sole to the unvulcanized upper, ,and subjecting them together to `the vulcanizing heat, which, while it vulcanizes the body of the boot or shoe and the unvulcanized portion of the sole, and therebyunites the ltwo solidly, also further vulcanizes the vulcanized portion of the sole, and makes it harder and better adapted for its purposes.

The drawings show a perspective view and a longitudinal section of a sole with the heel attached. -The dotted Iline in Figure 2 indicates that the portions above it are green,77 or unvulcanized, and the portions below are vulcanized; although, as will be well undery stood by all skilled in the art, no such line of demarkation actually exists, as a section will not show any contiguous portions one of which is green and the other vulcanized.

My sole is affixed to the boot or shoe in the well-known way, and may be made of any of the vulcanizable compounds adapted for soles,

' a great variety of which are in common use.

I prefer to form and vulcanize the heel at the same time that the sole is formed.

The great advantages of my sole are, first, its cheapness, as it is formed in a mold the upper portion of which is kept cool while the lower part is heated; second, its style, as it is obvious that a very much more stylish sole can be formed in this way than in the Way commonly practiced; thirdly, that it can be united to the boot or shoe as easily and perfeetly as the unvulcanized sole now in almost universal use; and, fourthly, because, when subjected to the heat required to vulcanize the boot or shoe and the green or unvulcanized portion of the sole, there is very much less loss from damaged goods, and the second heating to which the under portions of the sole are subjected greatly improves it for its intended use.

I prefer to make the upper portion of my sole of less highly compounded rubber, and of ya compound that is less affected by heat than the lower portions. I also, in certain kinds of boots, so form the mold that hot nails and heel and toe plates can be inserted in it before the rubber, and thus those nails and plates be rmly fixed upon the vulcanized sole by portions of them which project into the rubber, and on which the rubber is forced when it is formed in the mold.

I am aware that it is not new to form and vulcanize soles of rubber in a mold, as that is described in my patent No. 40,802, dated December l, 1863; but the, difficulty has been to attach such soles to boots and shoes, and this has been done heretofore only by nailing, sewing, or cementing, and so far as I know I am the first to conceive and demonstrate the feasibility of the method above described. My method oi' attaching the soles to boots and shoes is of course applicable to that class of boots and shoes whose uppers are only fixed with rubber, as well as the common rubber boots and shoes.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. A sole formed of avulcanizable compound of rubber and vulcanized on its lower surface,

as above described.

2. The method above described of manufacturing boots and shoes. of rubber, consisting invulcanizingthe lower surface of the sole' before applying it to the upper, and uniting thesole so formed to the upper byvulcanizing them together, all as and for the purposesabove described.

D. E. HAYWARD. 

